Supplication for Our Return Journey

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Ya Ali Madad. Holy Ramadan is a month of prayer, supplication, fasting and reflection of our life on the earth and our ultimate journey back to our creator. Let us first read the commentary on ayat 2:186 presented in the above card, then internalize an excerpt from the philosophical poetry of Dai Nasir-i Khusraw with commentary, followed by tasbis for forgiveness and our desire to return to our origin through the blessings of the Ahlul Bait and our present and living Imam, Noor Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Husseini (a.s.).

Commentary on Ayat 2:186

God is nearer to each creature than its own life vein (i.e. self). The nearness of God mentioned in this verse serves two purposes: (1) to keep man always alert against leaning toward evil, (2) to give him confidence of Almighty Lord, the Ever-Vigilant Protector of His Creation, being with him, which conviction makes the individual feel independent of everybody else and makes him resort only to God for help and succour. This consciousness, of God always being with him, makes one realize God as an ever-living reality which controls everything in the Universe, not a mere theory of belief but as a matter of fact.

It is clearly stated in this verse that the prayer of a devout supplicant is heard and responded to, by God. The words of the verse indicate the acceptance of sincere prayer, as a promise by God. Acceptance of a prayer referred to here does not mean immediate fulfilment or the grant of whatever sought for. Only that which is best in the infinite wisdom of the All-Merciful Lord, for the individual, is done.

Response to God’s call means fulfilling God’s will given in His commandments about our ideal and practical life in the world, and faith means realization of the ever-living presence of the only All-knowing and the Almighty Creator of the universe and none else being like Him besides Him.

S.V. Mir Ahmed Ali, footnote 186, pp.191-2

Philosophical Poetry Gems of Nasir-i Khusraw

Intellect was the beginning of the world, and you its culmination,
Return, O progeny of the culmination, to the great beginning!

While Aristotle’ hierarchy of being starts at the highest level, with the First Intellect, his hierarchy of being in a biological context, found in his History of Animals, starts from the lowest level, moving up from inanimate objects through plants, then animals, and culminates in man. … Nasir-i Khusraw first mentions the Divine Intellect in the form of khirad, and then alludes to the human intellect, where he says ‘and you its culmination’. In other words, ‘you, in as much as you are a rational animal‘.

The second hemistitch quoted above underlines this meaning through a direct address, ‘Return, O culmination,’ in which ‘culmination’ (of all creation) refers to ‘man’ in his capacity as a rational animal. As for the ‘return’, we can consider it in two ways. In the first place Nasir-i Khusraw considers man’s exercise of his faculty of reason as of the utmost importance. This activity of the rational faculty of man is symbolized by turning back towards the Divine Intellect as his ultimate origin. This echoes Aristotle, who held man, by exercising the faculty of thought, gains access to the divine and eternal part of his being. In the second place, there might be a Platonic echo here as well. Plato, in his famous Allegory of the Cave in the Republic, describes man’s ascent towards the truth in terms of one of the prisoners of the cave being released and turning his head around to start his climb upwards from the darkness of the cave towards the light of truth. In this sense, one can say that the whole task of philosophy is in a way a ‘returning’, a movement towards the source of being.

M. J. Esmaeili, Pearls of Persia, edited by Alice C. Hunsberger, pp. 34-5.

Supplication for Forgiveness and our Return Journey

Let us now start supplicating with at least 33 beads of Astaghafirullahi Rabbi Wa Atubu Ilayhi (Verily, I seek the forgiveness of Allah, who is my Lord and Sustainer and I turn to Him in repentance) to our beloved NOOR Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam for forgiveness, material and spiritual upliftment, and for increasing our consciousness of our return journey.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Angelic Salwat Supplication

Let us now start supplicating with angelic salwat, Allâhumâ salli alâ Muhammadin wa âle Muhammad (O Allah! Bestow Peace on and through Muhammad and his Descendants) to our beloved NOOR Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam for mushkil aasan for material and spiritual upliftment.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

May NOOR Mowlana Hazar Imam bestow mushkil aasan, peace, prosperity, happiness, barakat, higher spiritual enlightenment, spiritual & luminous tayid (help) and empowerment to you, your family, your Jamat, global Jamat and humanity at large! Ameen.

May Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam fill your spiritual heart with his NOOR and nothing else and empower you to overcome fear, anxiety and uncertainty as we pass through this calamity! Ameen.

Rakh Mowla je Noor te Yaqeen (Certainly, we trust in Mowla's Light only)

Haizinda — Qayampaya
(Our Present Imam is Living and His NOOR is Eternal)